The linocut ‘Blue Mountains Wildflowers’ is really a step back in time for me on many levels from the design inspirations to my memories of this region. As I’ve spoken about before I love the Blue Mountains region west of Sydney, it has such a rugged beauty & the flora & fauna is integral to the whole region. The Blue Mountains has a strong Art Deco influence in architecture and design & examples of that can found throughout the small villages along the ridges leading all the way to Katoomba & beyond. The area really had its ‘heyday’ in the 1900-1960’s and in particular the 1930’s. This linocut art piece is also grounded in family experiences & an inheritance of sorts.

I guess this artwork had its beginnings with family. Both my family & my husband’s family have been keen visitors to the Blue Mountains for many years. When thinking about the Blue Mountains region I found I had so many stories & photos of that time from my mother-in-law & her family in particular, many of whom still live in the Blue Mountains. From honeymoons to day trips and in fact, it is where my husband & I had our honeymoon. It was also somewhere we took our kids for day trips, holidays & to visit family & friends as well.

The ‘Long’s’ Honeymoon 1925

Day Trippers to the Blue Mountains from Sydney c1950’s

Mum on a holiday in the Blue Mountains c1960

Aunty Lorna visiting the Blue Mountauins c1960’s

Blue Mountains Views 1986

Blue Mountains Views 1986

Blue Mountains Views 1986

Blue Mountains Views 1987

Blue Mountains Views 1987

Blue Mountains Views 1987

Blue Mountains Views 1987

Blue Mountains Views 1987

Blue Mountains Views 1987

Blue Mountains Views 1987

Blue Mountains Views 1987

Blue Mountains Views c1960’s

Family visits c1930’s

Blue Mountains Trip 1986

Blue Mountains Trip 1986

Blue Mountains Honeymoon 1987

Blue Mountains Honeymoon 1987

Blue Mountains Honeymoon 1987

Blue Mountains Trip with 2 of our sons1992

Blue Mountains Views 1986 – Three Sisters

Blue Mountains Views 1986 – Three Sisters

The wildflowers of this region are truly spectacular. The waratahs & flannel flowers are two of the iconic Australian wildflowers found here & of course I could not go past the ‘Mountain Devils’ – Lambertia formosa – which I have childhood memories of the seedpods dressed up with tulle on sticks like cupie dolls but there are some more vivid examples of these dolls in this newspaper article! I actually still have a couple of my mother-in-law’s tulle simple versions in an old china cabinet from her ‘nic-nacs’ which I just haven’t been able to part with. So the central panel of this work for me just had to be these three wildflowers.

A lot of research goes into investigating the species of an area, then I always take my own photographs & drawings of each of the species. This helps me to understand the structure of each plant & flower & increases the draftsmanship & design of the piece. There are usually so many I then have plenty to choose for the design.

So a little gallery in of inspirational wildflowers for Blue Mountains Wildflowers.

Waratahs

Waratah

Waratah

Pultanea glabra

Fletcher’s Drumsticks

Mountain Devil

Peach Blossom Tea Tree

Melaleuca hypericifolia

NSW Christmas Bush

Ernie Constable’s Hakea

Grey Spider Flower

Flannel Flower

Fraser’s Boronia

Christmas Bells

Coachwood

Blue Mountains Gum

Blue Mountains Gum

Blue Mountains Gum

Blue Mountains Gum

Blueberry Ash

Black Wattle

Saw Banksia

Saw Banksia

Waratah

Waratah

When my mother in law passed away a few years ago we inherited an old Art Deco style mirror. Looking a little shabby & worse for wear it does however have such an interesting shape. So I started with the mirror’s shape then developed that to create the overall structure of the design. It is then a matter of putting together all the research & developing that into the design. I spend a lot of time drawing, I think it is one of my favourite parts of the process. I have always loved drawing.

An old Art Deco Mirror

Creating a new design – sketchbook

Research, design, inspiration, creation & drawing

The final drawing for Blue Mountains Wildflowers

I see the linocuts as an extension of that & a way to push my vision & drawing further – the art of creative-art thinking. There is the ‘practical’ aspect of what can actually be carved out of lino but then there is the creative side of shapes & patterns. After I have finished the drawing of the design I then photocopy it several times & start to work on the actual linocut design. I use black felt pens to work on the designs, often photocopying, pasting & then using white out to work on this side of the designing. I guess I am still ‘old school’ in that I love to work with the physicality of paper, pen, pencil & ink but I do sometimes ‘dabble’ with computers & photoshop. I can spend weeks refining the images into exactly what I am happy with in the design & which I am able to produce in the medium.

Creating the design for carving

The final ‘template’ for the lino carving

Tracing of template to transfer to lino

Design drawn onto the lino for carving

Warming the cold lino on an electric plate warmer

Then to the carving of the design in lino. I have talked about different type of lino previously but I am pretty settled with the grey Silkcut & even managed to visit their gallery & workshop in Melbourne when I was there last time. I love my new Pfeil linocutting tools as they have made the carving just so much easier reducing the strain on my shoulder. There are actually 12 different blades in my set & I think so far I have only used half of them! Like a painter may use different brushes a Fine Art linocut artist uses their carving tools to create different effect within the surface of the lino. Some use it to create rough textural pieces but mine is a more methodical approach. I see my linocuts as botanical in nature so I try to represent the wildflowers as close to their essence as I can and this includes within the carving to create the images.

Carving beginnings – Pfeil Lino Carving Tool

Carving beginnings – Pfeil Lino Carving Tool

Lino carving progressions

Lino carving progressions

Lino carving progressions

Lino carving progressions

Studio view – caving lino

Lino carving progressions – Waratah 1

Lino carving progressions – Waratah 1

Lino carving progressions – Waratah 1

Lino carving progressions – Waratah 1

Lino carving progressions – Waratah 1

Lino carving progressions – Waratah 1

Linoblock carving finished

Final linoblock ready to print with edges removed

An interesting aspect to my work is the ‘uneven’ edges. I do not feel limited by the square or rectangular shapes that lino is usually presented to us from the art shop. I have always sought to move outside these shop bought restrictions. In order to do that I need to carefully cut back the edges. I start by making several strong cuts into the from surface of the lino. I then very carefully split the lino edge I want to remove & fold it towards the hessian back. Then I turn the lino over & cut along the hessian backing with a sharp bladed knife.

Often there can be a rough edge which is not something I want to be on my print. So I carefully remove the rough edges until I have a clean smooth cut. You need to take care especially around pieces with more ‘organic’ lines rather than the straight edges within this particular design.

Then the handcolouring. I print with oil-based ink & handcolour with watercolour. I like that I can sue multiple layers & colours within each section to create the overall vibrancy of the wildflowers. You will see on the first ‘handcolour proof’ patches of colour & notes on which colour mixes I used. Although the aim is to paint each one the same you can appreciate that each one is actually individually painted & there are always variations.

Here is a little video from photos about this whole process of creating Blue Mountains Wildflowers. For those who don’t want to read explanations & learn better through images rather than words, you can now watch it in a little video format.

The reason for using oil based inks is so that when I handpaint with traditional artist watercolours the oil based ink of the printed area repels the watercolour. If you were to use a waterbased ink (which dries quickly and cleans up with water) then when you come to handpaint it also dissolves the water based ink. Also you get such a lovely lustrous black with the oil based ink which highlights the colour of the transparent watercolour which I also like.

I always start handcolouring by taking a less successful print (one with flaws such as overinking, underinking, missed patches etc) and use this as a ‘working handcolured proof. It is where I experiment with colours and make notes on the colours I have used. It is a working proof which means I record the colours used on the print (just by penciling them in on the border and sometimes painting a little square of colour) and note any changes I would make on the final editioned prints. That way I can remember what colours I have used, how I have mixed the colours & keep a record of the actual colour I used for matching later.

Linocut Tutorials & Art Tutorials by Australian Artist Lynette Weir

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